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***
- What are your plans for this weekend?
The girls looked at me, but I just shrugged.
- Well, we're learning every day as it is, and since you hacked the rest of the learning slivers even a lot. In fact every spare minute of it. So I suggest we get into our cottage by the reservoir and have a kebab....
- Hmmm...
Panam looked at me thoughtfully, breakfast had just finished and she was as lazy as the rest of us. But that didn't stop her and the rest of the girls from thinking about the future dinner, or rather about kebab.
- Shall we go by ourselves?
Lucy raised the most important question.
- Well...
I shrugged.
- ...I was actually thinking of inviting Victor and Misty, I think they need to get away.
- Yeah.
Judy nodded her head.
- ...Misty wrote the other day that Jackie's mum had recently had an affair with Jackie, but Misty wasn't invited. Vic would have ignored it if he didn't know Jackie so well, but he really liked Misty and he didn't like the way she was treated. Anyway, they're gonna really need to relax.
- Well, that's how it's going to go.
I froze for a couple of seconds, and then turning towards the group of nomads that gathered around the fire near us and listened to the radio shouted.
- Hey, make it louder!
They obeyed me and I could hear the urgent radio transmission more clearly.
- ...we don't know yet if the people on board the Kang Tao Corporation aircraft survived, but we do know that the aircraft was shot down. Again, the aircraft was shot down near a microwave power station, and the Kang Tao Corporation is now investigating. The terrorist target is believed to be a research scientist who recently joined the corporation. The name of this employee is being withheld by the corporation...
I breathed a sigh of relief. She'd used my weapon and unnecessary civilian casualties had been avoided. Of course there would have been corporate casualties, but it was either that or thousands of civilian casualties.
- She did use your gun?
- Yeah.
- Good, I'd hate to have to reset it.
- Me neither, Becca, me neither. Okay, I'm calling Vic, I gotta invite him over for a barbecue.
- Come on, I'll get some of the equipment ready. If you don't mind doing the first experiment in synchronised brain recording.
I shrugged at Judy's suggestion.
- I don't mind...
Having said that, I closed my eyes and called Victor.
- Go ahead, David.
- Vic, we're having a spontaneous barbecue.
- I'm not really--
- Listen to me first. So take Misty with you and go to the same place. I think you both, especially Misty, need to spend some time with your friends. You're a tough guy, albeit a little soft for this town, but Misty--
- I'll-- okay, how long?
- Well, I think we should be there in about three hours.
- Roger that, drinks are on us.
- Okay, just remember, I don't drink booze.
- Yeah, I remember.
Vic chuckled.
- You're the only guy I know who doesn't drink alcohol. Anyway, I'm gonna go think about drinks, and I gotta get Misty out of her room.
- Come on.
I grinned and dropped the call, then opened my eyes and looked at the girls.
- Let's pack up, we have three hours to be in place.
- We'll make it...
Panam grinned, and Judy took a cardboard box out of Behemoth, which she carried to the side of the car, and then repeated the same thing four more times.
- What are you carrying there?
Becca looked at Judy suspiciously.
- No reason.
She waved the question away, but I grinned enigmatically, as did Panam, who knew what our Clever Girl kept in those boxes. And so I was keen to see the other girls' reactions to the scuba gear and wetsuits.
We were packed quickly enough, so in fifteen minutes we were in the car and driving towards the shop where we could buy fresh meat, because we had no money problems, the resale of the training chips was doing its job and now Regina and Bestia were sending us a percentage of every chip sold.
And just as I was standing there picking out the meat, the bell rang.
- Listening to you Vee...
I didn't close my eyes, so I answered the phone as I continued to pick out the meat.
- I'm calling to say thank you.
- Yeah, I heard on the radio... hit Kang Tao's avi... Not for nothing?
- Not for nothing...I got the developer of the chip that rewrites my brain by recording the identity of a known terrorist on it.
- Good for you.
- There's nothing to be happy about...
Vee sighed.
- ...He doesn't know what they did to the chip in Arasaka, but that's not what he did anymore. All he could say was that your idea of an EMP that zonally affects the chip is the best thing you can do. And he can't come up with anything on his own.
- That's a shame.
- Why am I calling...I managed to get the original chip blueprints out of him.....
I didn't say anything. I didn't want to offer my help. But I realised she was calling to ask for my help. And that was a little disturbing. Do I have to decide everything for her? The silence was lingering.
- ...why don't you take a look?
Apparently realising I wasn't going to say anything, she decided to make her own request.
- Okay... send me the data, I'll look at it when I have a free moment.
- Thanks.
She was obviously ready for such a turn of events and the data came to me almost immediately after I voiced my consent.
- ...it means a lot to me. I honestly don't even know how to repay you for everything you've done for me....
- Just don't get yourself into any more situations like this and work for a while, because if I figure out how to help you, it's not going to be a cheap solution.
Of course I wanted to say a lot of other things, but I didn't.
- I hear you... but honestly, I wanted to check in with the Voodooists... Parker said they're the ones who ordered her to do the recon on Compecy and they might know how to get that chip out.
- I wouldn't count on that...
I shook my head.
- ...You can certainly try, but I'd bet they just want the information from the chip. They might even need that Silverhand engram....
- What the hell for?
I poked at the couple of pieces of meat the vendor had packed for me, whereupon I paid him off and headed out of the shop.
- I heard something... about that typos....
I frowned, pictorially showing thoughtfulness. I didn't want to show her that I knew what I knew and why, especially since I wasn't sure she needed that information at all. Though in general... whatever...
- It's like he was hooking up with some cool roner girl that Arasaka ruined... hang on a bit.
- Ladies...
I got in the car and threw the meat bags inside. There was a side dish at Behemoth, so I didn't need to buy anything else.
- ...that you heard about Silverhand's affair with Ranner?
Well, you've got to authenticate your knowledge. So I thought it was more than all right to ask my girls. At least one of them should know the story in some detail.
- It's a dark story...
Kiwi shook her head, being the first to start answering my question.
- She was developing something secret for Arasaki, and then she was kidnapped, almost killing Silverhand himself. He tried to fight her off, but it didn't work out... she escaped from Arasaki into the net.....
I frowned.
- ...and then that nutcase detonated a nuke in Arasaki Tower.
- I see... Could this girl have become an AI?
- Yeah, she could have.
Lucy shrugged her shoulders, taking over from Kiwi in answering my questions.
- ...in general, any runner, and not only runner, having visited the network and not returning to the body has a good chance to become an AI. Another thing is that ranners have more chances to survive in the network, especially taking into account the work of the Network Watch. They're mostly watching the systems that keep the old AI out, but they also have operatives... and inside the new network they're watching the new network, and if someone starts to behave too brazenly....
Lucy ran her thumb across her throat.
- Right... thanks.
I turned my attention back to Vee.
- So listen, he was hanging out with a roner who worked for Arasaka, and apparently the roner was pretty cool because she was kidnapped and almost nullified by Silverhand himself. But she managed to escape into the net, she most likely became an AI, and given her skills, she could have become a VERY powerful AI.
- И?
- So the Voodooists may need to contact her, and Silverhand's engram could be the bait for that. To do that, they'll probably ask you to dive into the net... Except I can't predict how the chip will behave if you dive into the net. It could spike the rate at which it rewrites your identity.
We've been quiet for a while.
- Whether the possibility that they know something is worth the risk is for you to decide.
- I'll think about it.
- All right, you think about it, I gotta go.
- Okay.
We've been cut off.
- Is something wrong?
- Yeah, V--
I'm a little wobbly.
- Panam, how much further do we have to go?
- Well...
She shrugged.
- ...About forty minutes... maybe an hour.
- Right, I'll do a bit of work then. I'll see what chip data this lady sent me. See if I can figure out anything.
I dived into the data and even used Sandi to stretch my subjective time to better study the data V sent me. And all I realised is that I don't understand shit... It's too complicated.....
Panam touched my shoulder, attracting my attention and I immediately jumped out of the acceleration and with a sad sigh I stretched a little, making sure that the car was parked at the familiar cabin, opened the door and left it. I definitely needed a distraction, and if on the way here I was still willing to spend time on work, now....
I took the groceries out of the car and went to the set up area where I started to lay out all the stuff I had brought with me.
- Come on, spill it...
Becca poked Judy in the shoulder.
- ...what's in those boxes?
- Because you don't know?
- No, I know you've had those boxes for a long time, and I know you didn't have them when we first met.
- Actually, I did, it's just that the stuff in these boxes used to be in cardboard boxes, and David ordered me these big boxes that are much more convenient to store it in.
- Cardboard boxes?
- Mm-hmm.
Judy nodded her head and put the first box on the ground and opened it.
- This is...
Becca was a little confused.
- A wetsuit?
Lucy walked over to them and voiced what she saw inside the box.
- 'Yes, I thought we could do a preliminary experiment in co-recording the braine today, so I brought the suits with me. I think we'll do a couple of dives in pairs, with a third diver.
- What kind of diving?
- There.
Judy nodded at the reservoir.
- ...down there is my hometown. I just wanted to show you this place, to share it with you.....